Ben-Nadav Hafri

I want to leave the muffin test for a moment to tell you about a rabbit hole I fell down while researching this episode. I was trying to articulate why the idea that the nooks and crannies were a trade secret bothered me so much. So I began studying other trade secrets and secret recipes. One of the most famous is for a liqueur called chartreuse.

I want to leave the muffin test for a moment to tell you about a rabbit hole I fell down while researching this episode. I was trying to articulate why the idea that the nooks and crannies were a trade secret bothered me so much. So I began studying other trade secrets and secret recipes. One of the most famous is for a liqueur called chartreuse.

Chartreuse has been made by a French monastic order, the Carthusians, based on a mysterious recipe that was gifted to them in 1605. This recipe is a very closely guarded secret. Nooks and crannies for fancy cocktails. I learned that one of the Carthusian monks who'd been in charge of chartreuse production had left the order and now lived in New York City. So I wrote to him.

Chartreuse has been made by a French monastic order, the Carthusians, based on a mysterious recipe that was gifted to them in 1605. This recipe is a very closely guarded secret. Nooks and crannies for fancy cocktails. I learned that one of the Carthusian monks who'd been in charge of chartreuse production had left the order and now lived in New York City. So I wrote to him.

His name is Father Michael Halloran. I visited him at the parish offices of St. Monica's Church on the Upper East Side just a few days after Easter. What is known about the origin of that recipe?

His name is Father Michael Halloran. I visited him at the parish offices of St. Monica's Church on the Upper East Side just a few days after Easter. What is known about the origin of that recipe?

Originally, chartreuse was a health elixir. People took it for all kinds of ailments. Apoplexy, toothaches, palpitations, indigestion, fever. Eventually, the monks dropped the elixir claim and it just became a liqueur. But it still has this weird power. When I drink it, I tend to have strange dreams. It has a spicy, sweet complexity, and its color is this vivid, alluring green.

Originally, chartreuse was a health elixir. People took it for all kinds of ailments. Apoplexy, toothaches, palpitations, indigestion, fever. Eventually, the monks dropped the elixir claim and it just became a liqueur. But it still has this weird power. When I drink it, I tend to have strange dreams. It has a spicy, sweet complexity, and its color is this vivid, alluring green.

Father Michael told me he was the first American Carthusian ever. In the 1980s, he lived in France at the Grand Chartreuse Monastery in the unforgiving mountains of the French wilderness. The Carthusians are a famously silent order, and Father Michael was restless. So the monks put him in charge of Chartreuse. It's not easy to make.

Father Michael told me he was the first American Carthusian ever. In the 1980s, he lived in France at the Grand Chartreuse Monastery in the unforgiving mountains of the French wilderness. The Carthusians are a famously silent order, and Father Michael was restless. So the monks put him in charge of Chartreuse. It's not easy to make.

There are 130 herbs that are treated in a number of different ways. The recipe is kept on sheets and sheets of old paper that now Father Michael had access to. But eventually, when he left the Carthusian order and came back to the United States with that recipe in his mind, the monks just let him walk away.

There are 130 herbs that are treated in a number of different ways. The recipe is kept on sheets and sheets of old paper that now Father Michael had access to. But eventually, when he left the Carthusian order and came back to the United States with that recipe in his mind, the monks just let him walk away.

I'm curious what, if you could tell me about the process of leaving the Carthusian order and whether there was any sort of effort to make sure that you never share the recipe or how it was conveyed to you that you should not spread this.

I'm curious what, if you could tell me about the process of leaving the Carthusian order and whether there was any sort of effort to make sure that you never share the recipe or how it was conveyed to you that you should not spread this.

The formula for chartreuse really is worth money. It's kept the Carthusians afloat for centuries, but when Father Michael left, they didn't threaten, punish, or sue him, or tell him not to join another order. Because the secret was a bond between them, not a tool for control.

The formula for chartreuse really is worth money. It's kept the Carthusians afloat for centuries, but when Father Michael left, they didn't threaten, punish, or sue him, or tell him not to join another order. Because the secret was a bond between them, not a tool for control.

Is there in your mind a hierarchy between a secret and a mystery? And how would you illustrate the difference, if there is one?

Is there in your mind a hierarchy between a secret and a mystery? And how would you illustrate the difference, if there is one?

And a secret can be known.

And a secret can be known.